Adaptation to the audience and the occasion
Adaptationto the audience and the occasion is therefore the prime consideration. Nothing merits the name of eloquent or beautiful which is not suited to the occasion, and to the persons to whom it is addressed. —Bnem. Universally indeed in the arguments used as well as in the appeals to the feelings, a consideration must be had of the hearers, whether they are learned or ignorant, —of this or that profession, —nation, —character, etc. , and the address must be adapted to each ; so that there can be no excellence in writing or speaking, in the abstract ; nor can we any more pronounce on the eloquence of any composition than upon the wholesomeness of a medicine, without knowing for whom it is intended. —WHATELT. Even the common people are better judges of argument and good sense than we sometimes think them ; and upon any question of business, a plain man, who speaks to the point, without art, will generally prevail over the most artful speaker who deals in flowers and ornaments, rather than in reasoning. —BLAm. In applauding an orator, we usually applaud ourselves. He says what we were just ready to say ; we seem to have suggested the idea. The deliberate expression of human thought will always assume a form suppeeed to be adapted to the intelligence, the temper, the tastes, and the aims of those to whom it Is addressed. He who speaks to an audience composed of men of one class, of one profession, of one party, or of one sect, will use a narrower vocabulary, a more restricted or a more select dialect, than he who expects to be heard by a more various and comprehensive circle ; and a writer who appeals to a whole people, who seeks to merinos the understanding or enlist the sympathies of a nation, must adopt diction, employ arguments, and resort to illustrations, which shall, in their turn, suit the comprehengion and awaken the interest of men of every class and of every calling. —MEsn. Special caremust be taken to exclude from popular speeches certain features, which Abbott has thus classified : • Considerations that are subtile or farletched. —Though an • • audience may applaud these if they are skillfully presented, they will be practically guided by plainer and coarser arguments. • • language and imagery that are subtile or pedantic. —In Tay • lor's "Edwin the Fair, " the Pedant, in addressing an audience of monks, begins figuratively— On Mount Olympus with the Muses nine I ever dwelt. Upon which the cry is— He doth confess it, 101 He doth confess it Fagots and a stake! He is a heathen shall a heathen speak? So when in debate, in reply to the argument of an opponent that his client is a man of letters, a speaker retorts, "Yes, a man of three letters, " the retort is lost on those who do not happen to know that this phrase is the translation of the Latin euphemism for thief, homo trium litterarum(f u r). (e) Considerations alien to the ways of thinking of the assembly addressed. —Thus it has been said in the House of Commons of a scheme laid before it by a philosopher, "it is not of our atmosphere. " For the same reason it hasbeen remarked that lawyers seldom succeed in the House of Commons ; and Erskine, the greatest of advocates, excited nothing but contempt in Pitt, who ruled the House of Commons. Hence, also, the kind of oratory which suits a jury—i. e. , an unskilled audience— differs from that which is likely to convince a judge ; i. e. , a skilled auditor. Considerations of a higher moral tone than is likely to be appreciated by the assembly. —A speaker may feel it his duty to urge such considerations, but they are not oratorical. An interesting example of oratory, ineffective for this reason, is the speech in justification of the murder of Comex, attributed by Shakspere to Brutus. It appeals to abstract principles of morality quite beyond the comprehension of the crowd, and therefore excites nothing but a cold respect for the speaker. Then follows Antony, with an appeal to feelings, some good, some bad, but actually present in the minds of the audience, and excites them to frenzy. A little boy was shown the picture of the martyrs thrown to the lions. He startled his friends by shouting : "Ma! 0 Ma! Just look at that poor little lion way behind there. He won't get any. " There are audiences that from abstract discussion draw reflections far from those intended. It is not by his own taste, but by the taste of the fish that the angler is determined in his choice of bait. -MACAULAY. Imagery, phraseology, and rhythm, too rich and exquisite to be readily appreciated. —Specimens have been given above of the highest eloquence of English prose. Scarcely one of them belongs to oratory as here defined ; that is, scarcely one of them would be tolerated in the House of Commons, or in a law court. Students must not be misled by the speeches of Burke so as to suppose that the richness and ingenuity of his style is properly oratorical. Burke was in fact, little listened to in the House of COMM0118. The true oratorical style is much less elaborate and ingenious. The following is a specimen of the manner of Fox, the most powerful of English orators : "We must keep Bonaparte for some time longer at war, as a state of probation Gracious God, sir, is ware state of probation ? Is peace a rash system ? Is it dangerous for nations to live in amity with each other ? Are your vigilance, your policy, your eomtnon powers of observation, to be extinguished by putting an end to the horrors of war ? Cannot this state of probation he as well undergone withOut adding to the catalogue of human sufferings? But we must pawn What must the bowels of Great Britain be torn out, her hest blood spilt, her treasure wasted, that you may make an experiment? Pat yourselves—oh, that you would pat yourselves In the field of battle, and learn to judge of the sort of horrors that you excite ! In former wars a man might at least have some feeling, some interest, that served to balance in his mind the impressions which a scene of carnage and of death must indict. If a man had been present at the battle of Blenheim, for Instance, and had inquired the motive of the battle, there was not a moldier engaged who could not have satisfied his curiosity, and even perhaps allayed his feelings—they were fighting to repress the uncontrolled ambition of the Grand Yonargue. But if a man were present now at a field of slaughter, and were to inquire for what they were fighting, Fighting?' would be the answer, they are not fighting, they are pausing. " Why is that man expiring ? why is that other writhing In agony ? what moans this implacable fury ? ' The answer must be, 'You are quite wrong, sir ; you deceive yourself. They are not fighting. Do not disturb them ; they are merely pausing. This man is not expiring with agony, that man is not dead : he is only pausing They are not angry with one another : they have now no cause of quarrel ; but their country thinks there should be a pause. All that yea see, sir, is nothing. like fighting : there is no harm, nor cruelty, nor bloodshed In it whatever ; it Is nothing more than a gallica, pans. ! It is merely to try an experiment, to see whether Bonaparte will not behave himself better than heretofore; and in the meantime we have agreed to a pause in pure friendship!' And is this the way, sir, that you are to show yourselves the advocates of order ? You take up a system calculate! to uncivilize the world, to trample on religion, to stifle in the heart not merely the generosity of noble sentiment, but thelkffections of is dal nature, and in the prosecution of this system you spread terror and desolation around you. What is chiefly to be remarked in this passage is : (1) the simplicity and homeliness of the thought it expresses ; (2) the carelessness of the language and the complete absence of rhythm, the orator evidently beginning his sentences without knowing how he would end them. To these characteristics it owes very much of its persuasiveness. What you are asked to believe is not anything paradoxical, and the language used is so direct and natural that you suspect no artifice. The character of the speaker is also a powerful consideration. We permit ourselves to be entertained, informed, and interested by almost anyone that has the requisite intellectual ability ; but we are slow to be persuaded by those whom we do not respect. One thing is certain, and I shall hereafter have occasion to illustrate it more fully, that without possessing the virtuous affections in a strong degree, no man can attain eminence in the sublime parts of eloquence. —BiAnt. It may be objected that bad men have been great orators. It would be more exact to say that most such men have had within them the capacity for distinguished probity, but that they have fallen through moral weakness. Such a man sees the right way, and can still point it out to an audience, though he no longer follows it ; while a naturally bad man, having never seen it, unconsciously betrays his ignorance of it. Hence weak men do more mischief than bad men ; for their sympathy with all that is true and noble gives them an influence over the good that the bad man could never establish, and which they betray. It may be urged that to adapt one's self to the audience is a sort of duplicity ; but this view has been well refuted, as follows: Much declamation may be heard in the present day against expediency, as if it were not the proper object of a deliberative assembly, and as if it were pursued only by the unprincipled. And this kind of declamation is represented as a sign of superior moral rectitude ; though in truth it implies very unsound morality, in anyone who is not led into it through mereconfusion of thought and inaccuracy of language. —WRATRLy. Vanity, always a weakness, is in oratory unpardonable. It is a peculiarity in the rhetorical art that in it, more than in any other, vanity has a direct and immediate tendency to interfAre with the proposed object. Excessive vanity may indeed in various ways prove an impediment to success in other pursuits ; but in the endeavor to persuade, all wish to appear excellent in that art operates as a hinderance. A poet, a statesman, a general, etc. , though extreme covetousness of applause may mislead them, will, however, attain their respective ends certainly not the less for being admired as excellent in poetry, politics, or war ; but the orator attains his end the better the less he is regarded as an orator. If he can make the hearers believe that he is not only a stranger to all unfair artifice, but even destitute of all persuasive skill whatever, he will persuade them the more effectually, and if there ever could be an absolutely perfect orator, no one would, at the time at least, discover that he was so. . . . It is important to remark that an orator is bound as such, not merely on moral but (if such an expression may be used) on rhetorical principles, to be mainly and indeed exclusively intent on carrying his point ; not on gaining approbation or even avoiding censure, except with a view to that point. He should, as it were, adopt as a motto the reply of Themistocles to the Spartan commander Enrybiades, who lifted his staff to chastise the earnestness with which his own opinion was controverted : "Strike, but hear me. " I would not indeed undertake to maintain (like Qnintilian) that no one canbe an orator who is not a virtuous man ; but there certainly is a kind of moral excellence implied in that renunciation of all effort after display, in that forgetfulness of self, which is absolutely necessary, both in the manner of writing and in the delivery, to give the full force to what is said. —WHAMMY. Look at Dogberry, anxious to be written down an ass, and proving his donkeyhood by utter unconscdonsness of it. Look at Falstaff, on the other hand, laughing at himself and stopping the laughter of others when he says, "I do begin to perceive I am made an ass" And it is not only the Anal test of donkeyhood, but goes down to the deeps of life. Shakspere is very fond of such phrases as these : " The fool doth think he is wise, but the wise min knows himself to be a fool. "" The worst is not as bug as we can say, This is the worst. " "I am not very sick since I can reason of ft. "—DALLAS. Sincerity is imperatively demanded. Universally a writer or speaker should endeavor to maintain the appearance of expressing himself not as if he wanted to say something, but as if he had something to say. —WHATELY. Asked what was the secret of his success in public debate, President Lincoln replied : "I always assume that my audience are in many things wiser than I am, and I say the most sensible thing I can to them. I never found that theydid not understandme. " I know that young people, on purpose to train themselves to the art of speaking, imagine it useful to adopt that side of the question under debate which to themselves appears the weakest, and to try what figure they can make upon it. But I am afraid this is not the most improving education for public speaking ; and that it tends to form them to a habit of flimsy and trivial discourse. —BLAra If at least that man is to be accounted the most perfect orator who (as Cicero lays down) can speak the best and most persuasively on any question whatever that may arise, it may fairly be doubted whether a first-rate man can be afirsi-rate orator. He may indeed speak admirably in a matter he has well considered ; but when anynew subject or new point is started in the course of a debate, though he may take a jester view of it. at the first glance, on the exigency of the moment, than anyone else could, he will not fail —as a man of more superficial cleverness would—to perceive how impassible it must be to do full justice to a subject demanding more reflection and Inquiry; nor can he therefore place himself fully on a level in such a case with one of shallower mind, who being in all cases less able to look beneath the surface of things, obtains at the glance the best viewAs can take of any subject, and therefore can display, without any need of artifice, that easy nnembarrassed confidence which can never be with equal effect assumed. To speak perfectly well. in short, a man must feel that he has got to the bottom of the subject; and to feel this on occasions where from the nature of the case it is impossible he can really have done so, is inconsistent with the character of great profundity. —Wiurnm The Funny Mancan never be an orator. He may amuse us, but we do not let him persuade us. We yield our judgment only to the speaker who is thoroughly in earnest. There are things incompatible with unction, such as wit, an analysis too strict, a tone too dictatorial, logic too formal, irony, the use of language too secular or too abstract, a form too literary ; for unction supposes abundance, overflow, fluidity, pliableness. —Irtater. The pathetic and the facetious differ not only in subject and effect, as will appear upon the most superficial review of what has been said, but also in the manner of imitation. In this the man of humor descends to a minuteness which the orator disdains. The former will often successfully run into downright mimicry, and exhibit peculiarities in voice, ge-turn, and pronunciation, which in the other would be intolerable. The reason of the difference is this: That we may divert, by exciting scorn and contempt, the Individual must be exposed : that we may move by interesting the more generous principles of humanity, the language and sentiments not so much of the individual as of human nature must be displayed. So very different, or rather opposite, are these two in this respect, thnt there could not be a more effectual expedient for undoing the charm of the most affecting representation, than an attempt in the speaker to mimic the Personal CHAP. XXVI]. MODERATION. 513 singularities of the man for whom he desires to interest us. On the other band, in the humorous, where the end is diversion, even overacting, if moderate, is not improper. — OMIPM1LL. The Objection to a predominance of the humorous in a public speaker is not to the humor but to the affectation, the bent of mind that seeks to look upon things not as they are, but as they may be made to seem laughable. When the wit is plainly subordinate to the thought, and employed not for itself but as the most forcible expression of the thought, it is the happiest element of perfection inadiscourse; especially in discussion. (See page 81. ) Wit may sometimes be of service at the bar, especially in a lively reply, by which we may throw ridicule on something that has been said on the other side. But though the reputation of wit be dazzling to a young pleader, I would never advise him to rest his strength upon this talent. It is not his business to make an audience laugh, but to convince the judge ; and seldom or never did anyone rise to eminence in his profession by being a witty lawyer. —Butta. Moderation is another essential quality, especially in enlisting the sympathies of the audience. Even when passion is aroused, and the orator seems to be sweeping his hearers along by the torrent of his fiery words, he will still be wary not to be more violent than their excitement warrants, remembering that there is but one step from the sublime to the ridiculous. Reserve has great force. This devout and holy sobriety of expression is not merelyadiscipline worthy of being reverenced for its motive ; it is a wise and wholesome economy. Feeling is exhausted by the expression of feeling. Never without an evident and impracticable miracle can the words of the poet respecting the magic cup be spoken of the soul : And still the more the vase poured forth The more it seemed to hold. —Ovus. Reserved men, when that reserve is not the mark of sterility, preserve the strength of their soul just as temperate men preserve their bodily vigor. Nay, their very reserve is usually a pledge and a foundation of mental strength. Nothing moves us so deeply as a single word from the heart of one whose words are, from a sense of duty, few. —Vniur. M. Clemenceau, the French Minister, was devoid of enthusiasm and made no secret of his contempt for the imaginativeness and "gush" of the Southern orators. Once, after one of Gambetta's most impassioned speeches, Clemenceau was seen to wear a scornful expression. "Why, you must admit that it was a magnificent oration, " expostulated M. Naquet. "It was incomplete, " replied Clemenceau, dryly ; "M. Gambetta should have accompanied himself on the guitar. " The following eulogy upon Justice Clifford, by Senator Davis, is an admirable example of moderation in a field of oratory where there is peculiar temptation to extravagance : The members of the bar have come together to perform the sad duty of offering proper respect to the memory of the late Mr. Justice Nathan Clifford. It was my privilege to be associated with him on the bench for fifteen years, and it was my pleasure to know him closely during all that time, in the relations of an unbroken personal friendship. Ile was pure jurist, who, as he profession know, was patient, scrupulous, faithful to every &ay, and earnest to be right. Investigation to him was a labor of love, and industry was a recreation. Well equi;. ped in the science of the law, a clear head and a wise judgment rarely failed to carry him to sound oonclusions; and, whatever they might be. thecourt and bar accepted them always as the result of his honest convictiona. As a citizen, his life was an example. As a patriot, he was eminent for devotion to free institutions. As a man, he was noted for the beet qualities that challenge respect and admiration. As a friend, he PM stanch and self-denying. His public services and his private virtues willlong be cherished by a grateful public. Pungency is the most manifest element of success in a public speaker. We yield our time reluctantly to one who does not seem to be giving us something to grasp ; and we grasp only ideas that are clean-cut, vigorous, complete. I do not think that so much harm is done by giving error to a child, as by giving truth in a lifeless form. — CHANNING. An old man, asked how he liked a certain sermon, re plied, "I liked it very well, except that there was no pinch to it. I always like to have a little pinch to every sermon. " It has been said of the celebrated chancellor of England, Lord Somers, that he once delivered a speech in the House of Peers in the space of seven minutes, which was so re plete with sense, wisdom, and intelligence, that the debate was closed on his resuming his seat, Everyone being satisfied that so wise a counsellor had embodied in his address all the information which was essential to the proper elucidation of the question then under consideration. —31cQ LORD BACON'S ORATORY. —Yet there happened in my time one noble speaker who was full of gravity in his speaking. His [[language] (where he could spare or pass by a jest) was nobly censorious. No man ever spake more neatly, more pressly, more weightily, or suffered less emptiness, less idleness, in what he uttered. No member of his speech but consipted of his own graces. His hearers could not cough or look aside from him without loss. He commanded where he spoke, and had his judges angry and pleased at his devotion. No man had their affections more in his power. The fear of every man that heard him was lest he should make an end. --Joarsor. THE ORATORY or Drmoeiments. —He not only prompts to vigorous conduct, but he lays down the plan of that conduct ; he enters into particulars ; and points out, with great exactness, the measures of execution. This is the strain of these orations. They are strongly animated, and full of the impetuosity and fire of public spirit. They proceed in a continued strain of inductions, consequences, and demonstrations, founded on sound reason. The figures which he uses are never sought after, but always rise from the subject. He employs them sparingly, indeed, for splendor and ornament are not the distinctions of this orator's composition. It is an energy of thought peculiar to himself which forms his character and sets him above all others. He appears to attend much more to things than to words. We forget the orator and think of . the business. He warms the mind and impels to action. He has no parade and ostentation ; no methods of insinuation ; no labored introductions ; but is like a man full of his subject, who, after preparing his audience by a sentence or two for hearing plain truths, enters directly on business. —Bi. sm, 1. 366. There is the speaker who has nothing to say, and who says It; there is the speaker who has something to say, and who does not say it ; and there is the speaker who has something to say, and who does say it. The tiro riles one. It is provoking—considering the brevity of life—to have the time of a whole company wasted, its temper ruffled, and its mind hardened against something good by such an impertinence. The second awakens a kind of pity. The heart must be hard indeed that is unmoved by an honest man—at least a man with no evil design—with knowledge or notions more or less valuable, vainly attempting to get them out. One feels a compassion akin to that which a whooping-cough awakens. You can only stand by, helpless ; and if, in either case, you try a clap on the back, the chances are that you do more mischief than good. The third excites a feeling of satisfaction, such satisfaction as one has in seeing a team well handled, and carried neatly round a corner, or a ship skillfully brought into her berth, or in watching a dexterous carver at the family table (mostly a lady) put a nice helping before Everyone, and yet appear to treat the noble bird with no rudeness, but rather with a sort of respectful tenderness that shrinks from disfiguring the form. There are speakers who are all introduction. They are always coming up to their theme. It appears to boa kind of Ignisfatuus to them. They are perpetually nearing it, but "the faithless phantom flies, " and they are shut off, or choked off, before they have overtaken it. You feel, in hearing, like the man who conscientiously believed he was to eat through the bill of fare, and who was weary but unsatisfied by the time he had got through the six kinds of soup at the top. Others are all conclusion. They have "finally, " and "once more, " and "another remark, " and "It occurs to them to add, " and "before sitting down they wish to express, " and in conclusion they have two or three "observations to offer. " This is the modern substitute for the rack. It tortures one from the crown of the head to the sole of the foot. It goes to the very marrow of one's bones. You envy those who, unrestrained by fear or shame, can go oat. You inquire mentally, Is this a free country? You feel as the peasant must have felt, who stood by the river to cross when the water had all flowed past; and when your fluent and gifted tormentor realy ends, you are too exhausted to have a lively feeling of pleasure ; and yet the sickly signs of satisfaction you show at his having finished at all, he probably takes as a tribute to his powers. There is the gushing speaker. He has emotions "always on hand. " His " Oh's" and " At's " fall like rain. He is a standing interjection. Sometimes he is violently enamored of everybody present. Even the doorkeeper hardly escapes. He singles out classes, and individuals, and tells the audience the particular kind of affection be has for them, its duration, and the occasion of Its birth. Such speakers are the "tree-lovers" of the platform. They ought to be frowned upon. They use up the tender words of goodwill, and do not leave a man phrases enough unvalgarised by their cheap emotion, nnsmeared by their treacle, in which to express honest love to his wife, his friend, or his children. There is the Weaning speaker—dress faultless, words clean-cut, neat and select, no conviction to make anyone uncomfortable—you could not disagree with hint if you tried. CHAP. XXVI. ] SPEAKERS. 517 The crystal streams with pleasing murmurs creep : but the man has senae enough to stop before—se in Pope's lines—the bearer is Threatened, not in vain, with sleep. He makes a lovely "chairman, " and is good at presentation, and returns thanks with extraordinary grace of words. The world is much indebted to the " pleasing " speaker. He lubricates the wheels of social life, and pats men in good temper. There is the gymnastic speaker. He acts all he says, and more. He is to be seen, like the dear little pets at table, rather than heard. His hands, his limbs, his walk, his running about, keep at least your eyes occupied. He gives some enjoyment to a certain order of mind, of the same kind afforded to children by the monkey. , So does the flashing speaker. He sparkles—without any needful connection between the gleams—any more than between the flashes of sheet-lightning. When he has made a reputation, the hearers wait and watch for the displays, and even discount them, and when he has burnt out there is no more impression left than by fireworks in the sky. "We have seen, admired, applauded : now let UP go home. " There is finally the heavy, generally sensible, speaker, who has ideas more or less clear or valuable in which he believes, and manages, more or lees clumsily, to get out. Of this class of speaker, the writer knows little with certainty, for we do, ss rule, the least know ourselves. But on general principles it may be confidently alleged that If one has thoughts—not imaginations or notions of them (which are to thoughts as clouds to glaseof water)—he is to be blamed If he does not take pains to overcome difflcultha in the way of uttering them : for they can be overcome ; and the human tongue, under proper management, Is equal to the expression of all practical and really serviceable idess. —Joas HALL. TOPICAL ANALYSIS. Eloquence. Persuasion, p. 505. ADAPTATION, p 506. Special care must be taken to exclude: • Subtile and far-fetched considerations, p. 507. • • Subtile and pedantic language and imagery, p. 507. • • Considerations alien to the ways of thinking of the audience, p. 508. • Considerations of too high a moral tone, p. 508. e. Imagery, phraseology, and rhythm too rich, p. 508. THE CHARACTER OF THE SPEAKER, p, 506. Vanity, p 510. Sincerity, p. 511. The funny man, p. 512. The objection to the humorous, p. 518. MODERATION, p. 513. PUNGENCY, p. 514. Lord Bacon's oratory, p. 515. The oratory of Demosthenes, p. 515,